Denmark reported on Saturday that two people had brain hemorrhages after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, one of which died. The Danish Medicines Agency said it was investigating whether the condition was a potential side effect.
A spokesman for the Capital Region of Denmark confirmed the death, and Danish news agency Ritzau reported that the other person, a civil servant in her 30s, was seriously ill.
Millions of people in dozens of countries have received the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine with few reports of harmful effects. After several countries recently stopped using the vaccine, the European Medicines Agency revised it and said it considered the vaccine safe, although it remained alert to any links to blood diseases. The agency noted that any threat would be very small and that the shots will prevent many more deaths than they can cause.
Recent blood clots and abnormal bleeding in a small number of vaccinees in European countries have raised questions about their safety and led to suspensions. This created a disturbing pause in vaccination campaigns this week, even when some European countries were entering a third wave of infections.
“At the moment, we are examining whether this is exactly the same picture of disease with multiple blood clots, a low platelet count and bleeding,” said Tanja Erichsen, director of the Danish Medicines Agency, in a radio interview with the Danish national broadcaster DR.
“We prioritized reports of suspected serious side effects like these and scrutinized them to see if there was a possible link to the vaccine,” said Erichsen said in a tweet on Saturday. “We are in the process of dealing with the two specific cases.”
This is the second death in Denmark after a person received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Norway is examining the deaths of two people who received the vaccine.
Denmark suspended the use of AstraZeneca until Thursday, despite guarantees from the European Medicines Agency. Other Scandinavian countries and Finland made similar decisions. But some European countries, including France and Germany, have returned to using the shots.
Part of the continued caution was prompted by preliminary findings from medical experts in Norway and Germany, which suggested a possible link between the vaccine and extremely rare blood disorders. German experts said the sinus or cerebral venous thrombosis suffered by 13 Germans days after receiving the vaccine was caused by an immune system reaction that they believe to be related to the injection. They did not release detailed data, but planned to present their findings to The Lancet.
AstraZeneca did not immediately comment on the statements on Friday.
Dr. James Bussel, a specialist in platelet disorders and professor emeritus at Weill Cornell Medicine, said the occurrence of abnormal clotting and low platelets in people under 50 is unusual. He noted that researchers in Europe have identified antibodies produced by the immune system – possibly in a highly unusual response to the vaccine – that may have activated platelets and initiated an abnormal clotting and bleeding cascade.
Researchers in Germany and Norway will continue to investigate and in Germany, where the vaccine is being administered again, doctors are alerting anyone who receives an injection of AstraZeneca to see a doctor immediately if they have headaches, dizziness or blurred vision more than three days later. They said the problems could probably be addressed if detected in time.